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Oral History Interview with Jefferson M. Robinette, July 1977. Interview H-0041. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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CLIFF KUHN:

Do you remember anything about a company union being formed? Not the
United Textile Workers, but one within the Plaid mill itself, of the
employees here in the Plaid mill. I talked to one lady who had a little
card that was signed by Mr. Williamson, I think, here, and said
…

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

No, I don't remember nothing about that. But this woman that wouldn't
move out there that they bayoneted said to me one morning when I was
going to work, she said… They was all right in front of that
door; I went in at that door all the time there. They was all out there
at the fence and around. She says, "Well,
you son of a bitch, you. What are you going to do when we win this
strike?" I said, "Well, I ain't going to do nothing
till you all win this strike" and just walked on. That's all I
said.

CLIFF KUHN:

Who was this woman who said that to you? She was one of the picketers or
strikers?

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

She was on the picket line and just said that to me. And I didn't pay no
attention to it, you know. I just went on like I didn't hear. And that's
the way most of them passed them up. I looked for Mr. Jim Copeland to
get killed out there. He'd get out there amongst them. But they never
did do anything to him.

CLIFF KUHN:

So most of the people who worked there, what did they think about the
union?

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

Most of the people that worked out there, whenever they come in to close
it down… They come in one day to close it down. The overseers
had orders if they done that, just to shut them down and go on
, and that's what they done. They closed the dye
house down one time. We had some stuff running through, and we told
them, "Just let us run that out" and they could have
it. And so we just run that on out of our dyestuff so it wouldn't ruin
it and closed it down. The next day, then, started it back up.

CLIFF KUHN:

What did you think about the union? I know you didn't join.

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

I think a union's a good thing if it would run right, but I didn't think
stuff like that was what the union really was. And I still don't think
it. I'll tell you, I think unions are all right if they don't go to the
extreme with it. I think a union's a good thing. But there's so many
cases just like that that they go to the extreme
with it, cause trouble and don't benefit no body.

CLIFF KUHN:

Did they ever have any other times when they tried to unionize here?

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

No.

CLIFF KUHN:

Or anywhere in the area?

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

No, that's the only time that I ever remember them having any trouble
with a union out there.

CLIFF KUHN:

Is the way that you feel about the unions the way that most of the people
feel about the unions?

JEFFERSON M. ROBINETTE:

I think that most of the help out there, that's the way they felt about
it. They went along with the company they were working for pretty good.
They had some few that didn't.